Electrical measuring apparatus



5, 1941. H. BoEKEL ETAL 2,249,452

' ELECTRICAL'MEASURING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 15, 1940 Pig. 2. i

5 s5 cw =5 FREQUENCYG) Pig. 5.

FREQUENCY RESPONSIVE RESIST ANCE Inventors Hans Boekels, Adolf Brosch; y

Their- Attorne' the rectifier elements with the result that a cor-.-

Patented July 15, 1941 ELECTRICAL MEASURING APPARATUS Hans Boekels, Berlin-Wannsee, and Adolf Brosch,

Berlin-Treptow, Germany assignors to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application February 16, 1940, Serial No. 319,370 In January 2, 1939 3 Claims. (oi. 111-95) This invention relates to electrical measuring apparatus, and particularly to apparatus of thetype employing dry rectifiers and a direct current instrument for measuring alternating electrical.-

currents and voltages.

Alternating current measuring devices which employ dry reetiflers in connection with a direct current measuring .instrument are considerably influenced by variations in frequency, the effect usually being that the indication of the measuring instrument falls with increasing frequency.

. This phenomenon is due principally to the fact that the internal capacitance of the rectifier'elements in the lo king direction increases with the frequency of the applied alternating current and, as a result, an increasingly greater part of the input current orthe current to be measured flows past the rectifier elements without rectification. The output direct current from the rectifier elements is thus reduced and the measuring instrument reads low.

It is accordingly the principal objectlof our invention to provide improved means for compensating the errors in the readings of the direct current measuring instrument caused by varia-- tions in frequency. Other objects and advan tages will become apparent as the'description proceeds.

In carrying our invention into effect in its preferred form, we connect a simple network comties; Fig. 2 is a characteristic curve of the measuring device of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a. diagrammatic representation of apparatus for measuring alternating current quantities and arranged in accordance with our invention.

Similar reference characters refer to like parts in each of the figures of the drawing.

prising an ohmic resistance element of high perthe following description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawing and its scope will be pointed out with, particularity in the appended claims.

In the drawing Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic'representation of a conventional rectifier bridge cir- Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawing, the reference characters II and I2 represent the meter terminals in an alternating current circuit, the

voltage or current of which isto be measured.

The numeral l3 designates a rectifier bridge having dry rectifier elements 14 of the copper-oxide type, for example, connected in each of its four arms andhaving its output terminals connected typical illustration of the decrease in the angular' deflection of the movable element l5 of the measuring instrument of Fig."1 with constant alternating current of different frequencies applied to the input terminals H and I2. The de-.

flection a of the movable element l5 under such conditions may be represented by the equation where a0 is the meter deflection for a frequency equal to zero, =21- times the frequency, and K1 is a constant dependingon the rectifier and the arrangement.

It has been proposed heretofore to eliminate the error due, to frequency variations by connecting in series relation an inductance and a non-inductive resistance element'which is independent of frequency in parallel to the alternating current terminals of the rectifier bridge,

forexample,across the terminals II and I2 of Fig. 1. In such an arrangement the reactance of the inductive element increases in accordance with the first power of the frequency.

In Fig. 3 we have illustrated an improved arrange'ment' for compensating for variations in the readings given by the measuring instrument due to variations in the frequency of the alternatingcurrent. In this apparatus the input terminals of the rectifier bridge I3 are shunted by a simple network comprising a non-inductive or ohmic resistance l6 whose resistance is independent of frequency and a second non-inductive or ohmic varies with the frequency. The resistance elecuit for measuring alternating current quantimentll has the characteristic that its effective the change in the effective resistance of a conductor in response to the flow of a constant a1- ternating current of various frequencies in the conductor, will' provide a better understanding of our invention.

It ,is a familiar fact that theresistance of a conductor carrying an alternating current is larger than that for the same conductor at the same temperature when carrying direct current. This increase in resistance results because the current density is greater in the outer elements of the conductor than in the center'so that in effect the cross section of the conductor is decreased. This crowding of the current to the outer portions of the conductor is known as skin effect. If the conductor be considered as composed of a plurality of concentric filaments of the same area then each filament will have the same voltage drop per unit length. Since the current flowing in the conductor is alternating in character, this voltage drop is composed of the ohmic drop and a voltage of induction. However, there are more lines of flux surrounding the central part of the conductor so that the reactance ls-greater at the center than at the surface. It follows then that the ohmic drop along a filament at the center will be less than along one at the outer surface. Consequently, the density of the current is greater at the surface and this unequal distribution in current results in a larger power loss for a given R. M. S. alternating current than for the same value of direct current flowing in the conductor. The ratio of the effective alternating current resistance to the continuous or direct. current resistance has been termed the skin effect resistance ratio." We make use of this change in effective resistance with frequency in carrying out our invention.

The effective resistance of a conductor carrying alternating current may be stated by the following equation:

3.0, where 1! rd-l g is given as follows:

R=Ro(.25-3.55$)

In each of the above expressions,

R=resistance to alternating current =resistance to direct current f =frequency in cycles per second d=diameter of wire in inches =permeability =resistivity in C. G. S. units Reference to Equations 2 and 3 shows that the effective alternating current resistance will be greater for large conductors than for small,

for higher frequencies, for higher specific conability varies with the flux density and there also may be other losses introduced because of the hysteresis of the material. For this reason, an average value. of permeability may be assumed in arriving at an approximattionfor properly proportioning the parts to be used in the electrical circuit.

The proportioning of the constants of the circuit depends upon the characteristics of the rectifiers used, the width of the frequency band over which the measuring apparatus is to be employed, and upon the permissible deviation from one hundred percent accuracy.

It will also be observed from Equation 2 the. the compensating component, as illustrated by the second term, varies in accordance with the square of the frequency which is very desirable as indicated by Equation 1. Therefore the shunting action due to the capacity effect of the rectifier elements may be compensated over a wide frequency range. For a given constant alternating current flowing in the input terminals H and I2, we have found that apparatus constructed in accordance with our invention gives small errors up to 100,000 cycles. The use of such apparatus, in which the impedance of the combined measuring instrument remains substantially constant over awide frequency range, is a distinct advantage not only in the case where direct measurements are being made but also in those cases where vacuum tubes are employed, particularly where it is important that the impedance of the energy receiving circuit be matched with the energy supplying circuit.

By making the elements it and H of the network of material having a positive resistance temperature co-efiicient, we may also compensate for any errors caused by changes in the rectifying qualities of the rectifier elements due to changes in temperature.

While we have herein shown and described a particular arrangement of measuring apparatus embodying the principles of our invention, it will be appreciated that other schemes of connection may be employed without departing from the scope and spirit of our invention.

What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. In apparatus for measuring alternating current quantities, a rectifier having input terminals for connection to the alternating current quantity to be measured and having the characteristic of decreasing its direct current output in accordance with increases in the frequency of the alternating current quantity connected thereto, a directcurrent responsive element connected in circuit with the output terminals of said rectitier, and, a substantially non-inductive resistance element composed of magnetic material and having a skin effect resistance ratio which increases substantialiy with frequency connected in shunt with the input terminals of said rectifler for compensating for errors due to variations in the frequency of said alternating current I quantity.

2. In a device for measuring alternating current quantities, a copper-oxide rectifier having input terminals for connection to an alternating current quantity to be measured, a direct current measuring instrument connected in circuit 3. In electrical measuring apparatus, a dry rectifier having its input terminals supplied with alternating current, a direct current measuring instrument connected in circuit with the output terminals of said rectifier, and an electrical 'network connected across said input terminals, said 'networkincluding a first ohmic resistance element and a second ohmic resistance element connected in series circuit relation, the resistance of said flrstresistance element being substantially-independent of variations in'frequency, and said second resistance element being composed I of magnetic material and so constructed and arranged that its eflective alternating current resistance increases appreciably with increases in the frequency of the alternating current supplied to said rectifier, whereby the ratio of the magnitude of the direct current flowing through said measuring instrument to the magnitude or the alternating current flowing between said input terminals is maintained substantially independ- HANS 30m.

ent orthe frequency or said alternating current.

ADOLF BROBCH. 

